This invention relates to outdoor field game darts or javelins and particularly relates to a heavy weighted head member for such darts.
Outdoor field game darts or javelins are well known and are commonly called lawn darts. Such darts are generally similar in structure to indoor game darts but are of a relatively larger size. Lawn darts are played on an outdoor field in which a target area is established on the ground and the players throw the darts from a selected distance in order that the darts would fall and thrust in the ground within the target area. Lawn darts must necessarily be strong in structure since they are subject to a large amount of punishment even under normal use; yet they must be simple in structure such that they can be easily and economically manufactured on a commercial scale.
Common lawn darts have a solid metal cylindrical head member for providing the required heavy weight at the front end therein. A pointed metal pin is mounted in the front end of the head member for thrusting into the ground and an elongated metal rod is secured to the rear end of the head member for mounting the flight. The flight is a plastic hollow sleeve having three vanes provided thereon. The sleeve can be slidably engaged over the elongated metal rod to mount the flight on the rod and it is secured in place by a nut mounted on the free end of the metal rod. Such dart has a strong structure and operates satisfactorily. However, it is relatively expensive and time consuming to manufacture which is mainly due to a large amount of metal being required in making the dart. Furthermore, the metal component parts must be made in separate manufacturing steps. Usually, the head member is first formed and then bores are drilled in the center of the front and back ends therein. The pin and the elongated rod are forcibly secured in the respective bores. These component parts may be damaged during such force-fitting resulting in wastage of material. Furthermore, the bores must be accurately formed in order that the pin and the rod can be properly and fixedly secured therein such that they would not become disengaged under the high impact during use.
The pin and the elongated rod can be mounted by heating the head member to expand the bores and engaging the pin and the rod in the respective expanded bores and subsequently cooling the head member such that the pin and the rod are fixedly mounted to the head member. It can be appreciated that such process is time consuming to carry out and is not commercially economical for adaptation on a continuous mass production scale.
Another drawback of a metal dart is that the weight of the dart is not concentrated at the head member. This is due to the weight of the elongated metal rod for mounting the flight vanes being almost equal to the head member. Thus, the dart may not provide a desirable trajectory with the pin pointing downward in the falling state of the dart. This results in the dart falling to the ground without the pin thrusting into the ground. This drawback may be overcome by increasing the size of the head member. However, this would invariably increase the bulkiness of the dart and the amount of metal used and, accordingly, would increase the cost of manufacturing. Additionally, the total weight of the dart is unnecessarily heavy such that it is hazardous if it accidentally falls upon the players or other persons in the vicinity of the playing area.